Stories from the Kanto region: Erik's tale

Sometimes you have a dream... It's strangely the same one every time...

You are walking next to a street, one that you don't know, and even the place you're in is an unknown one. While you are walking, you notice two things: the first is a big object that you can't really recognize, but you know it's dangerous; the second one... is the silhouette of a girl that's right in front of it.

Before the mysterious object can hit the girl, you get between them and push her away, taking her place and being hit by the object instead. After you get hit, you just sink into a void of pure darkness... until you suddenly start to hear a gentle voice talking to you and telling you this:

"Would you like... a second chance?"

"Erik... Erik! Come oooooon, it's time to get up!"

The energetic voice of a girl is calling your name, a voice you know well. You open your eyes and see a cute girl on top of you, sitting on your chest while you're still under the sheets.

"Mmh... Midori... I told you not to sit on me when you wake me up, I can barely breathe..." you complain as you get slightly crushed by her. Though you're bigger than her, she doesn't weigh that much for you.

"Then get up, you Snorlax. Mama made me bring you some fresh fruit for breakfast, I'll wait for you downstairs," she says before getting off you and happily skipping out of the room.

"Well, I guess I should really get up," you say before getting out of bed and moving to the mirror to fix your clothes and yourself.

Your name is Erik, Erik Scarlet, and you live in the region of Kanto, more precisely in the rural area of Pallet, an area in the west of Kanto made up of various villages that produce agricultural goods.

You are rather tall, around 1.90 m, and you have short (and Midori says messy) brown hair and a toned physique thanks to the work you do... but let's not talk about that now since Midori is waiting for you..

You put on a black T-shirt and a pair of white shorts and then go downstairs in your house, where you live alone since your parents sadly passed away 10 years ago, when you were just 10 yourself.

You go to the kitchen and find a bowl with some fresh red apples. You take one and then walk outside to the garden, where you can see Midori taking care of the flowers that are planted in the pots around the garden

Midori is a Bulbasaur girl and your childhood friend. You grew up together in the village where you live, and she and her mother helped you a lot after your parents passed away.

Seeing pokemusus like her in human settlements has become a more common sight in the last decades, especially since her mother, lady Venus (or mama Venus like she wants you to call her), is the assistant of the mayor of the area and also helps a lot with growing crops.

"Oh, I see you finally decided to get up." She turns to look at you and shows you her bright smile. She has always been a beacon of joy.

"Yeah, I did, though you should stop waking me up by crushing my chest under you," you chuckle as you tease her. She is not that heavy, though she has a really curvy body that could wake something else in the morning too if she wakes you up like that every time.

"Hey, I'm not heavy," she pouts. "And I know you can take it, mister 'warrior'. Talking about that, mom and the mayor asked me to come call you since they might have a mission for us," she explains.

"I see. Very well, I'll finish this apple and prepare, then we can go," you say before taking a bite.

You quickly finish your breakfast and then start to wash yourself. While doing that, you remember the last years that passed: your parents were adventurers who sadly passed away during a mission, but before that they gave you a good amount of training, and you kept training alone too to become strong.

Thanks to that, you became what could be considered the guardian of the area, and Midori always had your back, especially because she is able to use her grass magic to heal your injuries every time you get hurt.

It's definitely good to have a trusted partner, especially because you can't use any magic arts outside of some normal-type empowering magic.

You finally finish preparing for the day and get out of the house, finding Midori sunbathing—one of Bulbasaur's favorite activities—while lying on the grass on her stomach.

"Ready to go?" you say as you get closer to her and offer your hand to help her get up.

"I surely am," she giggles, grabs your hand to get up and then you both start to walk toward the building that is considered the 'town hall' of the area.

You wave at the farmers who greet you as you walk or thank you for the last time you helped them, and soon you arrive at the town hall, meeting someone else you both know well: a brunette in a black and light-blue dress with a green jacket on her shoulders and her usual white hat on her head—the mayor's daughter, Leaf.

"Look at that, someone finally got out of his bed," Leaf says when she sees you. She has always been someone who likes to tease others and act like the smartass of the situation.

Like Midori, Leaf is a childhood friend of yours and a skilled mage who is good with most types of magic and, like you and Midori, protects the area and helps her mother handle some of the mayor's tasks.

"Cut me some slack, Leaf, it technically was my day off," you say as she giggles.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but you better hurry up. Mom seems to have something rather important to talk to you about," Leaf says as a girl comes out of the town hall.

She is a short girl wearing a maid dress. Her movements are light and elegant, like she is as light as a feather, and that's because she is a Jigglypuff girl.

"Milady... here..." she says, barely audible as she talks, before giving some papers to Leaf.

"Good morning, Emma," you say to her.

She does a small bow to you before hiding behind Leaf.

Emma is really shy and doesn't talk much, since Jigglypuffs like to conserve their voice, but you and Midori consider her a friend of yours anyway.

She joined Leaf's family for reasons they never told you, and she has worked as a maid and as Leaf's assistant since then.

"Well, now I have everything I needed. We will go handle our part of the problem. See you later, guys," Leaf says, winking at you before she and Emma walk away.

"Time for us, I guess," Midori giggles before you both walk inside and make your way to the highest floor until you arrive in front of the door of the mayor's office.

You knock on it and the voice of a woman inside tells you to come in.

You open the door and walk inside, seeing a beautiful woman sitting at a desk working on some papers.

"Oh hello dears, please come and sit, we have stuff to talk about," Mayor Delia says as she welcomes you with a gentle smile.